23 Opportunities for PhD research

There are several routes into doing a PhD at the University of Manchester, including AI at Manchester shown in figure 23.1.

Figure 23.1: The University of Manchester’s AI@Manchester theme, part of the Digital Futures platform (formerly the Institute for Data Science & Artificial Intelligence) is an access point to the University’s expertise in data science and artificial intelligence. It facilitates interactions between researchers and problem holders, owns the University’s data science strategy, and delivers sustainable support for the community and is one of several routes into doing a PhD at the University of Manchester.

23.1 Using AI in chemical engineering

This PhD project at the University of Manchester will develop a new multi-fidelity Bayesian optimisation framework for reactor design, enabling efficient exploration of complex design spaces while reducing computational cost. 

We strongly recommend that you contact the lead supervisor for this project, DrNausheen Basha, before you apply. Please include details of your current level of study, academic background, and any relevant experience (including your Github page, if any), together with a cover letter explaining your motivation to undertake this PhD project. It is essential that you also include a copy of your CV and transcripts. Please include the project title and your name in the subject line of your email. Find out more at bit.ly/ceng-cs-uom

23.2 Creative Manchester PhDs, apply by 30th April

Six supervisor-led interdisciplinary projects bring together outstanding expertise by over 15 academic staff in arts, languages and cultures, computer science, social anthropology and law to address timely societal questions around AI’s impact on agency, authorship, imagination, inequality, and social relationships. Studentships will be organised around three strands:

1. AI for creativity
2. Creativity for AI
3. Creativity of AI

All supported by a methodological training theme, creative AI methods. The Centre for Digital Humanities, Cultures and Media (DHCM) will serve as the intellectual and organisational home of the CreativeAI studentships, with members already working at the intersection of AI, creativity, society, and culture.

23.2.1 Key features of this studentship

• Receive a fully funded studentship covering tuition fees and an annual stipend at the UKRI rate (previously 2025/26 £20,780 per year) for 3.5 years.
• Research Training and Support Grant (RTSG): £3,000 total over 3.5 years.
• CreativeAI studentship methods training and cohort-building activities.

23.2.2 One PhD studentship available

There is currently one project available:

1. CreativeAI: Copyright, AI and the Future of Creativity
2. Above and Beyond the Human Voice: Interactive Design Optimisation algorithms for Vocal Co-Creation in Staged-Performance and Composition Environments
3. Artificial Inequality? AI and its impact on the UK Creative Industries
4. Artificial Weather: Mining the Language and Visual Culture of Weather and Climate Modification
5. Love in the Time of AI: Online Dating, AI Bots and Romantic Relationships of Young Adults
6. Sensing the Machine: Generative AI and the Transformation of Musical Ensemble Practice

Apply by 30th April, any questions or comments should be directed to the contacts listed in the studentships above.

The other five PhD opportunities with Creative Manchester that were posted on this page (now strikethrough above), closed for applications on the 30th March 2026.